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Mbebe spruiks AFCON success

12 February 2013 05:24

African Cup of Nations' organisers have been quick to hail the success of the tournament in South Africa.

The dust had barely settled following Nigeria's 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso at Johannesburg's Soccer City on Saturday night when South African organising committee chairman Mvuzo Mbebe declared the tournament one of the best in the competition's 56-year history.

"I think that you saw on the field of play that this was possible some of the best football ever, certainly that we have seen for years," Mbebe said.

"For me I would say the match between Ghana and Burkina Faso was possibly the best.

"You are going to spend a long time thinking of a better game of football than you saw that day."

And Mbebe went further, declaring that the competition had succeeded in uniting the continent through football.

"When we started this journey, we started on a journey with the aim of making sure Africa could congregate and come together and celebrate being African," he said.

"We believe we have achieved that.

"I think no matter how you look at the tournament, I think South Africa was different and so was Africa in the last three weeks."

Nigeria will now travel to Brazil to compete in this summer's Confederations Cup before beginning qualification for the next Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in 2015.